Love and Revenge
by Lehava Shadowsong
Summary: A family destroyed, a country falling to the dark wings of the Blight, a civil war looming, two lost souls bound by contract find that maybe in all that darkness they can find what will bind them together. Slightly deviated game plot.


**Author's Note**: I know I'm supposed to be working on Destini but my muses are napping on it and I can't get them off it to work. So I've started this one to work on around that. This is only a pilot chapter, I want to see how everyone likes it before I add any more chapters. So please, please, **PLEASE** review. My muses, they feed on reviews.

As for Zev's early appearance and the Cousland girl not being a Warden, the backstory will be explained in the next chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dragon Age or the smexy Antivan elf. Sad face.

Love and Revenge

Chapter 1

Lothering was drowning in refugee's; they littered the streets, filled the open spaces, and the homes were filled to the brim. Whatever green there had been was crushed in the mud by so many feet, or eaten by the many beasts of burden that accompanied them. Everything was brown, and gray, absent of anything good, devoid of hope. It was a town awaiting it's funeral pyre at the hands of the Darkspawn. Accepted, brushed aside by those who had nothing left.

Woodsmoke was a sweet scent under the stench of unwashed bodies, waste and fear. Zevran drew it in as the Tavern door closed behind him. It was the last place he'd looked that day in the dim hope to find a bed. Nowhere was there a place to be found. All the beds taken, any other place to lay a head was occupied. He hadn't expected to find anything, but it was still a disappointment.

A soft sigh escaped him as his cloak was pulled tight around him. The soft wailing, sobbing cries and bickering was shut out as he weaved his way through the people. Escapee's from Ostagar, soldiers lucky enough to be alive, the villagers, the outlying farmers, Templars and Chantry Sisters. Even Teryn Loghain's men. They were a crush of bodies that drove hope further into the cold mud. Zevran shook his head, clearing that thought from his mind. He had other things to worry about besides the Darkspawn and Loghain's men.

With all the people of the area here in the small hamlet there would suredly be empty farmholds outside of Lothering. There, there he could find a bed for them, and other neccessities.

He ducked around a Templar and into one of the crowds surrounding a firepit. "_Mia cara_, come." Her hand was taken and the woman was pulled out of the crowd. Taller then he, but not surprising for a human woman, even if it only was an inch or two. Most of her features were hidden by the hood of her worn cloak, but the worn linen couldn't hide the heavy silverite chainmail, or the heraldry on the breastplate. A laurel wreath, like white wings, trimmed in blue, decorated the middle of her armor, bloodstained as it was. "The places here, they do not have room."

Zevran felt, more then heard, her sigh. "I had figured as much." She looked around, but stayed close to him. "Where will we go now?"

"Out of Lothering. Some of the farmholds should be empty." He was looking forward to a real bed, a bath, and food he didn't have to hunt himself. To be able to get some real sleep would be a blessing from the Maker himself at this point. "We will not stay long, the Darkspawn will come soon."

"Of course." Another sigh as her hand tightened around his. "If it's not that sniveling snake, it has to be them." She stepped around a pile of something foul, keeping close to the Elf's back.

He bit back a laugh even as he tossed a smirk over his shoulder. "That is the way of life, is it not?"

"True. Though I'd like to take Life and kick it in the balls."

Now he did laugh. An arm slipped around her waist as they pulled free of the crowds into a relatively more open area outside of the huts. "Ah, many people wish to do that. It would be quite the long line, no?"

Their feet carried them towards the ramps leading to the old Tevinter roadway, skirting around the Windmill and bodies of dead villagers. They were still steaming with faded life. "What happened here?"

"Darkspawn?" The woman's hands went to her dagger and sword, echoing his own. "No... the bandits? Darkspawn would be in Lothering already." Her head swiveled this way and that, trying to spot anyone who might have caused the carnage.

"Not bandits." Zevran crouched near a body. "The marks, they are too clean, too precise, to be them. See here?" A series of slashes across the man's abdomen were gestured to. One across the chest, two across the gut, spilling them out in the grass and dirt. "Whoever these men tangled with knew what they were doing."

The Darkspawn they had encountered before had been a small group, a few of the short dwarvish ones, and two taller. Foul smelling creatures, all of them, and vicious in their attacks. They would have hacked at these men and continued into the village, bandits were almost the same in fighting style but that they would have retreated.

She touched his shoulder, lips drawn down in a frown. "It would be best if we kept moving. I have no wish to find out who it was."

The elf nodded his agreement and followed her out of the stained dirt, slipping an arm around her waist again. His other hand rested on his dagger, just in case. He smiled when he felt her lean into him. "Think, a real bed, _mia dea_, with blankets and pillows. Not hard ground and bugs in our bedrolls."

The lady laughed softly. "I believe that Highever spoiled you, dear. You've grown far too used to featherbeds and silk coverlets. Leaves aren't that bad as a bed when they're dry."

He moaned wistfully at the memory of that large bed with all it's down pillows, the animal fur and silk coverlets, the linen sheets and pillow bere's. What he wouldn't give to have that bed back. Nowadays it was the leaves, if they were lucky maybe straw, covered by one of their cloaks while they used the other as a blanket. "Leaves may not be a bad bedding," His face made her giggle. "But they do make good deterrents for much more..._ pleasurable_ activities."

The giggle came again and a half-hearted swat at the roaming hand. "Zev!" Even with the attempted swat she snuggled as close as her mail would allow. "Mmm... maybe we can make a morning of it? They might have some honey, and rope." She flashed him an innocently sweet grin.

Zevran shivered, eyes darkening. The last time she had gotten her hands on honey and rope it had been quite sinful. He _may_ have been able to wait until morning if she hadn't brought that up. "That is very cruel, my dear. You owe _il mio piccolo amico_ an apology for such teasing." Zev barely managed to keep from growling it out though he grinned rather toothily at his woman.

"_Piccolo_ is it?" Her hand slipped through the leather straps of his armor to cup him. The grin she wore was pleased at his needy groan, a hint of aqua eyes flashing with humour. "I thought he was _più grande_."

Now he growled, capturing her hand there and maneuvering her towards the wall of the highway's ramp. "He merely waits in stealth, ___mia cara__,_ until the right time to attack." He ground his hips against her hand, eliciting another giggle.

"He needs to wait then, this is hardly the right place to attack."

Zev didn't miss the breathiness of her voice, the way she leaned toward him as they stopped. She was right, as much as that displeased him. There were highwaymen about somewhere, along with darkspawn and all manners of wild creatures. Their little game would be best continued elsewhere. "Hm, you are right, ___mia moglie__, _there are better areas for which to set up a surprise attack." He released her hand but tugged her in for a searing kiss. There was a smug feeling in his chest when the human woman whimpered and melted into him as his tongue claimed her. So easy to bring her to this, a kiss was often all it took.

"Now, we go." Zevran smirked, keeping her close as they headed up the ramp and away from the despair-filled village and the approaching Darkspawn horde.


End file.
